Friday, January 11, 2008

In 1963, Sam Cooke's late show at the Harlem Square Club in Miami, Florida, was recorded by RCA for possible release as a live album.

"Little Boxes," by Pete Seeger, entered Billboard's Top 100 in 1964. It is his one and only entry on the pop charts.

In 1975, "#9 Dream," from John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges LP, entered the Top Forty, where it will peak, appropriately, at #9.

In 1986, "Living in America," the theme song from Rocky IV, reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, becoming James Brown's biggest pop hit since "I Got You (I Feel Good)" went to #3 in 1965.

Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane passed away in 2005.

The big man - Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band - was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1942.

In 2005, Jimmy Griffin, guitarist with soft rock superstars Bread and co-author of the Carpenters' hit "For All We Know," passed away from cancer complications in Nashville aged 61.

Mickey Finn, percussionist for '70s glam rockers T. Rex ("Get It On (Bang A Gong)") died in a hospital south of London in 2003 at age 55.

Vicki Peterson, guitarist with the Bangles and the Continental Drifters, was born in Los Angeles in 1960.

The Whiskey-a-Go-Go opens in Los Angeles in 1963. The rock club would become a hangout for musicians trying to break into the music industry, as well as the launch pad for the Doors.

In 1967, Jimi Hendrix recorded "Purple Haze.”

The Beach Boys recorded "Do You Wanna Dance,” in 1965.

In 1992, Paul Simon became the first international performer to play in Johannesburg, South Africa after a U.N. apartheit boycott was lifted.

Chuck Barksdale, bass vocalist with the R&B group the Dells ("Oh What A Night"), was born in Chicago in 1935.

In 1964, "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash became the first country album to top the U.S. pop album chart.

Nirvana appeared on “Saturday Night Live.” At the end of a song, Krist Novoselic hurls his bass into the air. Unfortunately, it comes down right on top of him. (*ouch*)

The Coasters record their first tracks for Atlantic Records in 1956.

"Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen was the number one song on the Cash Box music chart in 1964. For a while, the record was banned by some US radio stations because of its indecipherable lyrics, which were rumored to contain some naughty words. Even the F.B.I. investigated the song, but finally concluded that they could find nothing wrong. (what a long way ‘censorship’ has come !)